Researchers have envisioned an electron-ion collider with ion species up to heavy ions, high polarization of electrons and light ions, and a well-matched center-of-mass energy range as an ideal gluon microscope to explore new frontiers of nuclear science. In its most recent Long Range Plan, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) of the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation endorsed such a collider in the form of a 'half-recommendation.' As a response to this science need, Jefferson Lab and its user community have been engaged in feasibility studies of a medium energy polarized electron-ion collider (MEIC), cost-effectively utilizing Jefferson Lab's already existing Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). In close collaboration, this community of nuclear physicists and accelerator scientists has rigorously explored the science case and design concept for this envisioned grand instrument of science. An electron-ion collider embodies the vision of reaching the next frontier in Quantum Chromodynamics - understanding the behavior of hadrons as complex bound states of quarks and gluons. Whereas the 12 GeV Upgrade of CEBAF will map the valence-quark components of the nucleon and nuclear wave functions in detail, an electron-ion collider will determine the largely unknown role sea quarks play and …

This document is a property certificate form for the subject contract.

We are at the dawn of a new era in the study of hadronic nuclear physics. The non-Abelian nature of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and the resulting strong coupling at low energies represent a significant challenge to nuclear and particle physicists. The last decade has seen the development of new theoretical and experimental tools to quantitatively study the nature of confinement and the structure of hadrons comprised of light quarks and gluons. Together these will allow both the spectrum and the structure of hadrons to be elucidated in unprecedented detail. Exotic mesons that result from excitation of the gluon field will be explored. Multidimensional images of hadrons with great promise to reveal the dynamics of the key underlying degrees of freedom will be produced. In particular, these multidimensional distributions open a new window on the elusive spin content of the nucleon through observables that are directly related to the orbital angular momenta of quarks and gluons. Moreover, computational techniques in Lattice QCD now promise to provide insightful and quantitative predictions that can be meaningfully confronted with, and elucidated by, forthcoming experimental data. In addition, the development of extremely high intensity, highly polarized and extraordinarily stable beams of electrons provides innovative opportunities …

"This report examines variation in testing of ER, PR, HER2, BRCA, and lymph nodes in women ages 65 and older who were enrolled in the Medicare program and diagnosed with DCIS between 2004 and 2007."

This report provides details on the then-current Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Section 1417 requirements as well as amendments to the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act.

In this project, we cast distributed resource access as operations on files in a global name space and developed a common, scalable solution for group operations on distributed processes and files. The resulting solution enables tool and middleware developers to quickly create new scalable software or easily improve the scalability of existing software. The cornerstone of the project was the design of a new programming idiom called group file operations that eliminates iterative behavior when a single process must apply the same set of file operations to a group of related files. To demonstrate our novel and scalable ideas for group file operations and global name space composition, we developed a group file system called TBON-FS that leverages a tree-based overlay network (TBON), specifically MRNet, for logarithmic communication and distributed data aggregation. We also developed proc++, a new synthetic file system co-designed for use in scalable group file operations. Over the course of the project, we evaluated the utility and performance of group file operations, global name space composition, TBON-FS, and proc++ in three case studies. The first study focused on the ease in using group file operations and TBON-FS to quickly develop several new scalable tools for distributed system …

The purpose of this report is to provide a concise status update for value-added products (VAP) implemented by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility. The report is divided into the following sections: (1) new VAPs for which development has begun, (2) progress on existing VAPs, (3) future VAPs that have been recently approved, (4) other work that leads to a VAP, and (5) top requested VAPs from the Data Archive. New information is highlighted in blue text. New information about processed data by the developer is highlighted in red text. The upcoming milestones and dates are highlighted in green.

This document is intended to help public water systems (PWSs) understand the processes and requirements for obtaining authorization for emergency use of water wells that have not been previously approved for use as a source of public drinking water.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Refund of cash bail bonds under article 17.02, Code of Criminal Procedure.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Conservation and Reclamation District Number Three in Brazoria County may conduct operations within the boundaries of another district.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether section 38.007 of the Texas Education Code, section 109.33 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, and the home-rule provision of the Texas Constitution authorize a home-rule municipality with a population of less than 900,000 to enact an ordinance prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages within 1,000 feet of a public school.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether an application by a local organizing committee, endorsing municipality, or endorsing county to a site selection organization is a prerequisite to the expenditure of funds from the Major Events Trust Fund pursuant to section 5A, article 5190.14, Revised Civil Statutes.

Document listing the bridge underclearance data including location, the features carried, the lower roadway, and the minimum clearance of the overpass.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of delays and cost increases, the General Services Administration (GSA) canceled the authorized 41-courtroom Los Angeles (L.A.), California, courthouse project in 2006. Since then, GSA and the judiciary have been slow to agree upon how to proceed with the project, for which about $366 million in appropriated funds remains available. In 2012, with the judiciary’s support, GSA issued a request for proposal for contractors to design and build a 24-courtoom, 32-chamber courthouse, which would be used in conjunction with 25 existing courtrooms in the Roybal Courthouse. However, this new plan will not address one of the principal justifications for the original project—that the L.A. Court be centralized at one site. Instead, it would increase the distance between the Roybal Courthouse and the planned second court location and the distance to the federal detention center from which prisoners must be transported."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Almost all ANS hardware and most software development were completed prior to its cancellation, according to the Army and GDRS. The software for the most advanced capabilities was not completed, which potentially presented the greatest complexities. GDRS had demonstrated many of ANS’s capabilities to some extent, including its capability to avoid obstacles and follow a leading vehicle through varying terrain. ANS had not yet progressed to the independent testing phase, however. In cancelling ANS and MM-UGV, the Army estimated that approximately $2.5 billion in planned funding for fiscal years 2013 to 2017 could be made available for other Army efforts. According to Army officials, the government owns the work completed on ANS to date."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While CRA should increase investor demand for LIHTCs, quantifying the extent of any effect of CRA on LIHTC equity contributions is difficult given data and methodological challenges. In part because of the qualitative nature of the CRA investment test, regulatory ratings cannot be systematically linked to banks' LIHTC investments. Although a bank's overall rating and the associated narrative of its CRA examination are publicly available, the performance evaluation report does not individually list qualified investments and how they were considered for that examination. Furthermore, quantifying potential bank demand for LIHTCs in specific geographic areas is complicated because not every bank assessment area is considered to the same degree in a CRA examination. Although one way to assess demand for LIHTCs is by examining how much equity investors are willing to contribute, the common LIHTC price measure--the ratio of investors' equity contribution to the total amount of LIHTCs in nominal dollars--is subject to misinterpretation. Specifically, an investor's equity contribution reflects the value of not just the LIHTCs, but also any other tax and regulatory benefits--such as higher CRA ratings--plus project risks. Such other tax benefits include deductions for depreciation …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, DOD reported having taken or planned actions that directly align with about half of the CWC recommendations applicable to it, and State and USAID each reported having taken or planned actions that directly align with about one-third of the recommendations applicable to each of them. Officials from the three agencies explained that for the remaining recommendations no actions were taken or planned that directly aligned with the specific recommendation. This was because, for example, the agencies had determined that existing policies or practices already meet the intent of the recommendations or had disagreed with the recommendations. The following are examples of actions that DOD, State, and USAID have taken or planned that directly align with specific CWC recommendations:"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We identified 1,340 potential, separate initiatives that DOD funded from fiscal year 2008 through the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 that, in DOD officials’ opinion, met the above definition for C-IED initiatives. We relied on our survey, in part, to determine this number because DOD has not determined, and does not have a ready means for determining, the universe of C-IED initiatives. Of the 1,340 initiatives, we received detailed survey responses confirming that 711 initiatives met our C-IED definition. Of the remaining 629 initiatives for which we did not receive survey responses, 481 were JIEDDO initiatives. JIEDDO officials attribute their low survey returns for reasons including that C-IED initiatives are currently not fully identified, catalogued, and retrievable; however, they expect updates to their information technology system will correct this deficiency. Our survey also identified 45 different organizations that DOD is funding to undertake these 1,340 identified initiatives. Some of these organizations receive JIEDDO funding while others receive other DOD funding. We documented $4.8 billion of DOD funds expended in fiscal year 2011 in support of C-IED initiatives, but this amount is understated because we did not receive …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD incorporated results-oriented management practices into the planning and development of the four ongoing DSO improvement efforts. Additionally, it appears that DOD is incorporating those practices into its planning for the fifth effort—strategic network optimization—which is still under development. On the basis of our assessment of DOD’s key planning documents and other information for the process improvement, surface optimization, air optimization, and supply alignment efforts, we found that DOD addressed the six characteristics found in the framework. For example, DOD identified the main purpose of the improvement efforts, their scope, and the resources needed to execute individual efforts. Preliminary observations of DOD's planning for strategic network optimization indicate that agency officials are also incorporating results-oriented management practices for this effort. For example, DOD has developed a mission statement and established mechanisms to coordinate with stakeholders. However, because planning is still underway for strategic network optimization, we were unable to fully assess the extent to which DOD has used result-oriented management practices to develop and implement this improvement effort. For example, DOD has not yet decided how to implement the effort nor developed specific performance measures to assess progress."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD's rationale for waiving WSARA's competitive prototyping requirement for CAPS covered both bases provided in the statute; however, DOD did not provide complete information about the potential benefits of competitive prototyping or support for its conclusion that prototyping would result in schedule delays. In the waiver, DOD found reasonable the Air Force's conclusion that the additional $49 million cost of producing competing prototypes exceeded the negligible expected life-cycle benefits because minimal opportunities exist to increase CAPS technological and design maturity through competitive prototyping. The Air Force's conclusions about CAPS technical and design risk are supported by its market research, but its cost-benefit analysis was incomplete because neither the waiver nor the business case analysis supporting it provided an estimated dollar value for the expected benefits. Further, the Air Force's cost estimate of competitively prototyping CAPS was based on a program office estimate, which has not been independently reviewed by DOD's Office of Cost Assessment and Performance Evaluation. DOD also did not provide support in the waiver for its conclusion that implementing competitive prototyping will delay EPS's initial operational capability and result in DOD being unable to meet critical …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S.-funded global health programs have put regulatory and policy requirements in place to help prevent procurement of substandard drugs. USAID, for example, reviews quality assurance information for all drugs before they are procured. Specifically, USAID requires implementing partners to obtain written approval from the agency before purchasing drugs. Through its approval process, USAID determines whether there is sufficient information available to assure that the drug is of acceptable quality. Although USAID’s review process varies for some drugs, the type of information USAID reviews generally includes prior FDA approval of the drug or approval by a comparable stringent regulatory authority, as well as results of prior testing of the drug by an independent laboratory. As an additional quality assurance measure, USAID prequalifies selected wholesalers to procure drugs for U.S.-funded global health programs based on factors such as site visits to the wholesaler’s facility and a review of the wholesaler’s quality assurance practices and procedures. According to CDC officials, CDC requires its implementing partners to follow program-specific quality assurance requirements. For example, CDC’s implementing partners must follow the same requirements as the USAID/PMI program when procuring malaria drugs and as …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) has not followed sound data collection practices in designing and maintaining the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) database, raising concerns that the database is not a useful tool for describing the nature, use, and extent of excess and underutilized federal real property. The FRPC has not ensured that key data elements—including buildings’ utilization, condition, annual operating costs, mission dependency, and value—are defined and reported consistently and accurately. For example, we documented buildings reported to the FRPP as underutilized even though they were fully occupied and we also documented others that were vacant but reported as utilized. We also saw severely dilapidated buildings that were reported as being in excellent condition. In fact, at 23 of the 26 locations visited, we identified inconsistencies and inaccuracies related to these data elements. As a result, FRPC cannot ensure that FRPP data are sufficiently reliable to support sound management and decision making about excess and underutilized property. In addition to problems with data consistency, we found problems with collaboration and reporting issues, among others."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2005, the most recent year for which complete data were available, occupants of older manufactured homes paid over twice as much on average per square foot for energy---$1.75 per square foot as compared with $0.87---as was paid by occupants of detached homes. Annual energy expenditures for older manufactured homes--about 906 square feet on average--were about $1,369, compared with detached homes--about 2,919 square feet on average--were about $2,060. Energy expenditures--both per square foot and annually--varied significantly by region reflecting regional differences in the types and costs of fuels commonly used to heat and cool homes, income levels, and climate, among other things. In 2005, LIHEAP provided more assistance on a per square foot basis--about $0.33 per square foot--to occupants of older manufactured homes than to those of detached homes--about $0.20 per square foot. However, this assistance covers slightly less of the annual energy expenditures of occupants of older manufactured homes than occupants of detached homes--15 and 17 percent, respectively. Based on our analysis of EIA's RECS data, we estimate that about 3 percent of LIHEAP funds--about $57 million--spent in 2005 were used to assist occupants of older manufactured …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we identified four groups of states that differed in their use of Medicaid managed care on the basis of the 12 indicators we included in our analysis. A handful of these indicators—namely Medicaid enrollment in MCOs and PCCM programs, HMO penetration rates, and the concentration of low-income individuals that lived in urban areas—had significant influence on how states grouped. In contrast, within the four groups, considerable variation existed among the other indicators we examined, such as states’ primary care capacity and commercial HMO market index. For labeling purposes, we typically describe the four groups on the basis of states’ enrollment of Medicaid beneficiaries in MCOs and PCCM programs—generally the predominant similarity among the states within each group:"